Preview

Choices: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
381 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Choices: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Choices
What is happening in each poem? How do they compare and contrast? What is the main idea to both poems? The poem “The Road Not Taken” is a very sentimental poem, because it is about a choice. On the other hand, the poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is about the choice that someone made already. In “The Road Not Taken” the person chose to take a road with an unknown ending, and is less traveled. Moreover, the writer was letting people know that sometimes taking the less traveled path makes a huge difference. The evidence I found was “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. (Frost, 2008)” This poem is basically about a life choice, because sometimes people comes to a fork in the road, and they have to decide which way is better for them. However, sometimes people do not make the right choice, but it’s a life lesson to be learned. In “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” the writer was talking about slowing down to enjoy life. Too many people try to get caught up in life, but if they would just slow down and look around they might feel relaxed and safe. The evidence that I found to make me believe this poem was are slowing down for life was “To watch his woods fill up with snow, (Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, 2008)” and “The woods are lovely, dark and deep (Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, 2008)”. Both poems compare to one another, because one is about making a choice while the other is about enjoying it. Those poems tones were the same sad, yet hopeful, which makes me believe the writer, Robert Frost, was a very sad person full of hope, and the desire for something grater. I would recommend those poems to teenagers up to adults, because that is when life starts taking hold, and that is when choices become.

References
Frost, R. (2008). Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. In Everest, Introduction to American Literature (p. 613). Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing.
Frost, R. (2008).



References: Frost, R. (2008). Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. In Everest, Introduction to American Literature (p. 613). Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing. Frost, R. (2008). The Road Not Taken. In Everest, Introduction to American Literature (p. 610). Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Breslin, John B. "Review of Cold Mountain." America 178.3 (1998): 33-35. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 224. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literature Resource Center. Web. 7 Jan. 2011.…

    • 2484 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, the main character comes across a diverging road and can’t seem to decide which path to take. In the first stanza he says: “And sorry I could not travel both, And be one traveler, long I stood.” This shows his uncertainty about which path to choose. He finally chooses the one that seems less traveled by, but mentions that both paths were equally worn.…

    • 469 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Beach Burial Slessor

    • 1457 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is a first person narrative tale of a monumental moment in the author’s life. He is faced between the choice of a moment and a lifetime manifested in his poem. Walking down a rural road the narrator encounters a point on his travel that diverges into two separate similar paths. In Robert Frost’s poem "The Road Not Taken", Frost presents the idea of man facing the difficult unalterable choice of a lifetime. This idea in Frost’s poem is embodied in the fork in the road, the decision between the two paths, and the speaker’s decision to select the road not taken.…

    • 1457 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    In The Road Not Taken, I feel like Robert Frost is trying to play with each individual reader a little. By naming this poem The Road Not Taken I think it is a metaphor for our everyday lives, the choices we decide to make and not make every day. (Clugston, 2010) “Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,” In this poem Frost describes two roads and they both describe change and transformation. Both roads are appealing to him in different ways, which makes the decision a hard one to make. This poem caught my attention immediately because it can be a universal poem, and no matter who reads it, anyone can relate to it. This is the reason why he cannot just walk down any road without thinking about this life changing decision. He is not by any means unsatisfied with how his life turned out he just often wonders “what if?”, as in the other road could have meant more possibilities, a better choice and even more rewarding for him in the end. A few themes that I noticed in this poem are regret, sorrow and remorse. The word ‘sorry’ and ‘sigh’ are mentioned throughout this poem and these words give it a somewhat gloomy feeling. After I had finished reading this poem I was actually dwelling on the road he did take, but then I came to realize that this is more about the road he did…

    • 1262 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poetry is subjective in its very nature, which is what makes it sometimes so beautiful. It can not be argued or reasoned with; it just is. There are, however, some very important technical parts to a poem. Theme is one of these parts. The theme of poetry is not always readily identifiable as the author may simply be trying to state feelings or memories of a certain idea or event. More times than not, though, present in poetry are multiple themes. Such is the case in Emily Dickenson’s “Crumbling is not an instant’s Act,” Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays,” and Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Theme is a distinct, recurring, and unifying quality or idea that is the subject of a particular composition and all three of the aforementioned poems have similar but distinct themes.…

    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Road Blocks

    • 1813 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” both portray weighing of choices in life. The former is about youth and experiencing life and the latter is about old age, or more probably, an old spirit wearied by life. In both poems the speaker is in a critical situation where he has to choose between two paths in life. In “The Road Not taken” the speaker chooses the unconventional approach to the decision making process, thus showing his uniqueness and challenging mentality while in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” the speaker seeks a life without any pain and struggle but at the end, he has to comply with social obligation, which reflects his responsibility towards the society. On the other hand, in the poem "Acquainted with the Night" Frost focuses on the speaker’s depression and loneliness through a depiction of a late night journey. Instead of struggling with choices, the speaker is idle in being dissatisfied. He has walked beyond the city limits…

    • 1813 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Road Not Taken What is the connotative meaning to the road not taken and how does it explain the purpose of the poem? To begin, the title of the poem is “The Road Not Taken”, by Robert Frost. The poem is about two roads that go different ways and a person having to choose one of the roads. One of the roads look like many people have gone through it and the other road mysterious with almost no sight of being taken recently.…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Road Not Taken Outline

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is a poem that symbolizes literal and metaphorical forks in the road, to which decisions that are made can have a drastic impact on an individuals life.…

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Compare and Contrast Paper

    • 1409 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Road Not Taken gives the reader the opportunity to look at two paths that are presented before a traveler. Each one very different from the other. It symbolizes the choices that we have to make because there is always an easier way to take, but is it worth it? The author does a great job in making both seem appealing. Line two of the poem says, “And Sorry I could not travel both,” (Frost p. 555) meaning that the decision that is made is final, there is no turning back. The traveler is faced with a conflict where he must decided which path to take.…

    • 1409 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Robert Frost Tone

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Likewise within “The Road Not Taken”, the speaker comes to a stop, but in this poem it is to make a choice. To choose one of the paths before them, that will inevitably shape the rest of their life. They weigh out both roads and recount their surroundings and the beauty of both trails, but ultimately will look back on their choice with a “what if” outlook. The speaker’s life was considerably changed by the decision made and they will always look back to wonder how their lives could have been different if the other path was…

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “The Road Not Taken” is filled with symbolism. The literal setting of the poem is at a separation of the path in a yellow wood, not sure of which path to take and knowing that they will probably never be able to come back and take the other. Much of the difficulty in choosing which path lies in the fact that both paths are equally attractive. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both”. A persons life can be compared to a journey, the two roads are used as symbols of choices that are made in life and the options that one has to choose from in making their life journey. A person’s life can be compared to a journey, they may know where they want to go but there is usually more than one way to get…

    • 2552 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ is about the choices in life that affect where we will end up in the future. This is conveyed through the speakers dilemma of choosing a path in a diverged road. It talks of the speaker standing in the woods, considering which path to take as the road they are travelling on forks into two. One road has been trodden many times before, and the other is less travelled and more over-grown. The speaker chooses the less travelled road and says to themselves that they will take the other road one day, even though deep in their mind they know that it is unlikely that they ever will.…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    My interpretation of “The Road Not Taken” is that Robert Frost delivers a thoughtful way of expressing a first person choice process. He demonstrates just how important choices can be in our lives, done through writing about his decision to travel through a road over another, and later comes to the conclusion he should have taken the other road. Another important concept Robert Frost puts forward, is that one choice may perhaps lead to another choice by delivering the phrase “Yet knowing way leads to way” in the fourth sentence of the thirds stanza.…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Frost, R. (1915/2007). The Road Not Taken. In R. Abcarian, & M. Koltz, Literature The Human…

    • 1395 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    During his life, Robert Frost, the icon of American literature, wrote many poems that limned the picturesque American Landscape. His mostly explicated poems “Birches” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” reflect his young manhood in the rural New England. Both of these poems are seemingly straightforward but in reality, they deal with a higher level of complexity and philosophy. Despite the difference in style and message, “Birches” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” are loaded with vivid imagery and symbolism that metaphorically depict the return to the nature and childhood, the struggle between reality and imagination, and also freedom and captivation.…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays